(La Porte, IN) - Twelve La Porte Community School Corporation string players earned seats in the Indiana American String Teachers Association’s 2026 All-Region Orchestra.
They joined student musicians from across northern Indiana for a weekend of rehearsals and concerts at Robert A. Taft Middle School in Crown Point.
Seven Kesling Campus students performed in the Junior High All-Region Orchestra on November 7 alongside 140 or so middle school musicians from 20 schools.
Representing La Porte were eighth graders Irene Anabe, Lauren Christie, Lilly Grantham, William Kaminski and Mahana Obadencio, seventh grader Grace Goss and sixth grader Ian Anabe.
Anabe played cello with the Vivace Orchestra, which takes on more advanced repertoire, under guest conductor Johanna Kitchell.
Five La Porte High School students followed on November 8 in the High School All-Region Orchestra.
Isaac Anabe (junior) played in the first violin section, Kaley Rosenbaum (sophomore) in the second violins, Aubree Thomas (sophomore) on viola, and Veda Nelson (senior) and Austyn Jablonski (junior) on cello.
Guest conductor Frank Lestina, a longtime Illinois orchestra director who now teaches at DePaul University, led the ensemble through a program that ranged from Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 and Holst’s St. Paul’s Suite to music from La La Land.
Earning a seat is a multi-step process.
Orchestra director Liz Cravens identifies candidates by skill level then rates each student on a range of musical criteria. Those ratings go to the All-Region coordinator, who reviews submissions from every participating school and selects the ensembles.
Students then rehearsed before and after school with Cravens for six weeks before spending a full day at Taft rotating through full ensemble rehearsals, sectionals with instrument specialists, and a dress rehearsal ahead of a concert.
LPCSC is one of the few districts in the area to offer orchestra, and these twelve students represent the program's strength from sixth grade through senior year, officials said.
“The students have been working very hard to learn their parts,” Cravens said. “We are proud of them for putting in the work on an outstanding performance.”
